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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23847316">Unrequited</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ageless_aislynn/pseuds/ageless_aislynn'>ageless_aislynn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Snowells prompts [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Flash (TV 2014)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:33:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,404</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23847316</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ageless_aislynn/pseuds/ageless_aislynn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt by Brokenbookaddict:<br/>Caitlin x Sherloque - Punch scene au</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Caitlin Snow/Harrison "Sherloque" Wells</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Snowells prompts [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704868</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenBookAddict/gifts">BrokenBookAddict</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>When somebody says "AU" and your muse says, "Don't mind if I do!" and goes running off in a total straight line away from canon... </p><p>Any vaguely recognizable lines are adapted from The Flash 5x04. ;)</p><p>Many thanks to the very kind <a href="https://capitanogiorgio.tumblr.com">capitanogiorgio</a> for checking over my Google Translate French and answering my questions and to the awesomesauce <a href="https://bensolohasmyheart.tumblr.com/">Bensolohasmyheart</a>/<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/alisha_mendelsohn">alisha_mendelsohn</a> for connecting us!</p><p>If you read, I hope you enjoy! ♥♥♥</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Caitlin could remember thinking that the punching bag wasn't really necessary for the little impromptu gym they'd made in the room next to the Speed Lab, much less the half-sized boxing ring. Now, it had become her sanctuary, a place to let her mind go blank and let the simple physicality of glove punching bag overwrite her increasingly restless and troubled mind.</p>
<p>Neither Cisco or Ralph liked to spar with her and Barry had tried it a few times but he had to work so hard <i>not</i> to use his speed, that he ended up either being so distracted that she whaled on him defenselessly or he'd pull his punches to a ridiculous degree to avoid potentially hurting her.</p>
<p>So she had to be content with working the bag.</p>
<p>Movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye and, for a split-second, <i>he</i> was watching her.</p>
<p>Harrison Wells.</p>
<p>No. Eobard Thawne. </p>
<p>Sometimes, it was still hard to remember that it had <i>never</i> been Harrison Wells. All of the hours they'd worked together, all of the little in-jokes and easy camaraderie, none of it was real.</p>
<p>Neither was the "Harrison Wells" stepping out of the shadows. Not in the way that sent her heart briefly pounding.</p>
<p>"<i>Excusez-moi</i>, pardon. I didn't mean to startle you," Sherloque said, giving a slight bow. "Your technique is, how do I say? Not as good as it could be? Have you considered a partner?"</p>
<p>She squared up against the bag, unexpectedly stung by the criticism. "No one likes to spar with me," she said shortly, firing punches into the bag. The effortless flow wouldn't come back, though. She could hear him moving around behind her somewhere, things rustling, and she couldn't get back into the meditative headspace.</p>
<p>"<i>Viens ici, s'il te plait.</i> Come here, please," he eventually said and she turned to find him flipping on the light over the ring, then stepping through the ropes. He was holding gloves and protective headgear. "If you would be so kind?"</p>
<p>"Sherloque," she began and didn't even pause when he corrected her pronounciation. "I appreciate that but it's not necessary."</p>
<p>"Oh, I'm sorry, are you afraid, then? Are you just <i>un minuscule chaton</i>? A tiny kitten?" He lifted his hands slightly as if giving up. "You don't want to be humiliated, I understand. Never mind, then."</p>
<p>She hit the bag a final time then strode over to the ring. He held the ropes apart for her and she stepped through, giving him an unfriendly look. "Don't think that I don't know what you're doing," she said.</p>
<p>"Is it working?" he asked with a smile.</p>
<p>"Yes, it is."</p>
<p>"<i>Bien</i>. Good." He gently put the headgear on her, adjusting it so the padding fit where it was supposed to.</p>
<p>"Where's yours?" she asked as he started to put on his gloves.</p>
<p>He made a dismissive noise. "I do not need it."</p>
<p>She made an identical noise. "You might want to rethink that. I don't want to be responsible for giving you a black eye."</p>
<p>"I will show you," he said, spreading his arms. "Hit me."</p>
<p>She really should've argued the point further, she later reflected. But, in the moment, all she could count as a victory was the fact that she made it a body blow instead aiming it at his face. As soon as her glove impacted his diaphram, he both doubled over and simultaneously went up into the air a bit.</p>
<p>It was... incredibly satisfying. But as he wheezed and gasped for breath, her usual doctor's instincts kicked back in, wiping the grin from her face as she asked, "Are you all right?"</p>
<p>He held up a finger, mutely asking for a moment. Once he was able to stand upright again, he said, "I think I shall use the headgear. Safety first, correct?"</p>
<p>Once he was properly outfitted with gloves and headgear and facing her in the ring, she found her slightly bloodthirsty enthusiasm waning.</p>
<p>"No, no," he said, "don't retreat now. Otherwise, how will I ever get my honor back? Now, as they say, put 'em up."</p>
<p>She was still debating when he caught her with a jab to the jaw. It was nowhere near as hard a blow as she'd struck him -- and it had been entirely on the headgear's padding -- but she still yanked her hands up indignantly.</p>
<p>"<i>Oui,</i> yes, there you are," he said, entirely too chipper for her state of mind.</p>
<p>She fired a jab back at him but he was prepared this time and merely sidestepped to let it fly by unchallenged. He let her mount an off-the-cuff attack, avoiding most of the punches and deflecting the rest. Then he suddenly went on the offensive, driving her back across the ring with shots hard enough to rattle her without actually hurting.</p>
<p>The ropes were at her back before she realized it and he stepped in to pin her. </p>
<p>She gritted her teeth. "Are you going to tell me that I'm fighting recklessly, without a strategy?"</p>
<p>"Now, why would I tell you something that you already know?" he countered genially.</p>
<p>There was a moment with him looking down at her, his blue eyes regarding her with a sharp intelligence that belied his friendly tone, that it was <i>him</i>, for all that the hair was too long.</p>
<p>"Interesting," he murmured. "You see a great deal of him in me, <i>n'est-ce pas</i>? Yes, I think you do."</p>
<p>She startled, not expecting him to have read that so easily. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said and put both gloves into his chest and shoved. He resisted, refusing to step back.</p>
<p>"Eobard Thawne," he said. "You had feelings for him."</p>
<p>"What? I mean, he was my boss and my friend -- I mean, I <i>thought</i> he was, I had no idea that he wasn't who he said he was." She forced herself to stop talking, knowing she was only making it worse the more she stammered denials.</p>
<p>"It's only natural to be confused. You trusted him and he betrayed you. You never even had the chance to properly confront him, did you?"</p>
<p>She shook her head. "Not really."</p>
<p>He took a step back. "Then, confront him now. <i>Oui,</i> I think it would be good for you."</p>
<p>"Sherloque," she said, shaking her head slightly, her hands dropping.</p>
<p>He abruptly changed his voice, dropping the melodious accent. "Oh, come on, Caitlin," he said <i>and it was his voice</i>. "All those years working side-by-side and I knew you so well but you never knew me at all. You must be angry."</p>
<p>"Don't," she warned, her voice low.</p>
<p>"That night, before the Particle Accelerator exploded, how you looked at me while I was on stage," he continued on. "So proud, so… loving."</p>
<p>"Stop it," she said, her eyes stinging. How did he know? Of course, it was recorded.</p>
<p>"Unrequited love is--"</p>
<p>She gut-punched him without even realizing she was going to. It didn't have the same power as before but it was still enough to knock the rest of the words from his mouth.</p>
<p>Going on the offensive, she managed to make him retreat with a flurry of punches. He had trouble keeping up with blocking or avoiding her furious attacks now that she was focused on <i>stopping anymore words from being said in that voice</i>.</p>
<p>"Caitlin," he managed to get out and she abruptly switched disciplines, sweeping his legs out from under him and sending him crashing to his back. </p>
<p>Without having enough weight or leverage to pin him, all she could do was straddle him and put what weight she did have onto his chest. He could have thrown her off if he would have wanted but instead, he went still beneath her.</p>
<p>"You don't know," she said, her voice thick. "You don't know what it was like. Every day, at his side. I knew he didn't feel the same but at least I was thankful he didn't know. But if it's so simple for you to see, then he knew it, too. He must've had such a <i>good laugh</i> at what a fool I was. What a fool I still am."</p>
<p>"<i>Aimer n'est pas idiot,</i>" he said, resuming his usual accent. "To love is not foolish. Perhaps that he pretended <i>not</i> to know was the only kindness he could show you. If he had begun a relationship under such very false pretenses, how much worse the betrayal, then?"</p>
<p>Her breath slowly steadied out again. "True," she finally said. "But let me tell you: no one likes having their inner thoughts and feelings ripped to the surface like that. You don't know what that's like."</p>
<p>"My intention was not to hurt you," he said softly.</p>
<p>She finally climbed off of him, sitting with her shoulders slightly slumped as she stripped off her gloves and headgear. Then she stood and, after a moment's thought, extended her hand to grasp his forearm and help him up.</p>
<p>"Caitlin," he started to say but she interrupted him.</p>
<p>"Thank you for sparring with me," she said, turning away and climbing through the ropes, walking away quickly and leaving him alone in the spotlight over the ring.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It hadn't made him happy to push her so hard emotionally but it had needed to be done. Draw out the poison before it could spread even further. She had been silently suffering for so long and he wasn't sure she even realized <i>why</i>. Until she confronted the feelings she still carried, she was never going to be free.</p>
<p>But she was wrong. He did know how it felt to have his secrets laid bare, unable to hide his feelings whenever a certain person looked into his eyes. But she hadn't really been <i>looking</i>. Her gaze would skitter away, uncomfortable, because she kept seeing the dark shade of his doppelganger.</p>
<p>Maybe now that would change. Perhaps she still would not feel the same. He would accept that. But what he would not accept was paying for another man's sins. He had plenty of his own, he didn't need more added to his tally.</p>
<p> For now, he would wait and see if she still saw Eobard Thawne the next time she looked in his eyes. Maybe though, she would finally see the man who was in love with her, instead.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Prompt by alisha_mendelsohn<br/>Pairing: Snowloque<br/><a href="https://ageless-aislynn.tumblr.com/post/622436673140244480/types-of-kisses-prompts">Snowells Kisses prompt</a> 31. Kisses shared under an umbrella.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Many thanks again to <a href="https://capitanogiorgio.tumblr.com/">capitanogiorgio</a> for checking over my Google Translate French and to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/alisha_mendelsohn">alisha_mendelsohn</a> for connecting us!</p><p>We're finally in motion again on this one! I hope to have the final 2 chapters up soon(-ish). ;) </p><p>Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! ♥♥♥</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"<i>S'il te plaît, rejoins-moi.</i> Please, join me," Sherloque said without turning. He had his arms stretched out along the park bench but knew if he left them there, she'd move farther away to avoid encroaching into his personal space. So he drew them down and congenially patted the seat next to him.</p><p>Caitlin shook her head slightly, not sure why she bothered to be surprised. "So, what gave me away?" she asked, coming around from behind him and smoothing her skirt as she sat. "My perfume? The particular way my heels click on the pavement? You just randomly say things like that so you'll impress people when you happen to be right?"</p><p>He smiled. "Why not all of it?"</p><p>"Why not?" she agreed.</p><p>For a moment, they sat there in silence under the slightly overcast sky, then she cleared her throat. "I should've asked if you're on a stake-out or anything?"</p><p>"I am always observing," he responded. "But no, I'm not on a mission. Your company is welcome."</p><p>Her hands balled slightly into fists. From most people, it would signal aggression or anger but he doubted that was the case at the moment. Her next words proved him correct.</p><p>"We haven't spoken about sparring a couple of weeks ago," she said, focusing her gaze on the shrubbery across from them as it rippled in the breeze.</p><p>"<i>Non</i>, we have not."</p><p>"You probably know everything I planned on saying, anyway."</p><p>"Contrary to popular belief, I actually am <i>not</i> psychic," he said, taking his black umbrella out of an inner coat pocket, unfolding and then opening it. He gestured at her to move closer and a confused crease appeared between her eyebrows but she complied.</p><p>She had just slid under the protection when the sky opened up and rain pattered determinedly down.</p><p>"Not psychic?" she challenged with a slight smile. "It seems to me that you know pretty much everything."</p><p>"Not everything, I assure you," he murmured. "So please, continue."</p><p>She was now pressed to his side. It would've been more efficient to put his arm around her but he was uncertain how she would respond. She exhaled heavily and he felt a tremor go through her. The temperature <i>was</i> dropping as the rain set in, so it was as likely to be from the chill as from nerves.</p><p>"Shall we go back to S.T.A.R. Labs?" he asked solicitously.</p><p>"No, I'd rather stay, if you don't mind?" she said a little quickly. So, she didn't want to have this conversation where her friends might overhear.</p><p>"<i>Comme tu préfères.</i> As you like," he said. When she pressed herself a fraction closer, this time he did put his arm around her, knowing it was warmth she was seeking. She instinctively tucked herself against him.</p><p>He held his tongue, waiting for her to be ready. Eventually, she said, "You were right, of course."</p><p>He made a wordless noise to encourage her to go on.</p><p>"You remind me of him. Thawne. He had that same way of being able to just <i>look</i> at you and it was like you were shouting your every thought at him. He used it against people, of course, but not me. Not often, anyway."</p><p>He realized he'd started rubbing his thumb against the curve of her arm where his hand had naturally fallen. Stop or keep going? He wasn't sure. He slowed the motion while he contemplated the decision. "It made you feel special, did it not?"</p><p>She nodded and her hair caressed the side of his face. Hopefully, she would misread the tremble that went through him as being weather-related.</p><p>"It took a while," she continued, "but I know why you did what you did in the boxing ring. I needed to confront him, even if it wasn't really him."</p><p>"I regret that it caused you pain."</p><p>"I had to face him. To face my feelings. It's the only way I could let him go."</p><p>"And did you? Let him go, that is?" He kept his tone nonchalant only through a great force of will.</p><p>She shifted and he thought she was about to stand, to move out from under the cover of the umbrella and walk away. But she just turned towards him.</p><p>"I did," she said and looked him full in the eye in a way that she never had before. She didn't flinch, she didn't shy back. She looked at him. She looked at <i>him</i>.</p><p>Even with all of his considerable skills, he couldn't school the rush of emotions from his expression. She smiled softly, reaching up to gently cup his face with one hand while she leaned forward and kissed his stubbly cheek. The soft brush of her lips burned him like the sweetest flame imaginable, especially warm against the cool temperature.</p><p>"I…" he started to say and his brain failed him. For a moment, he couldn't remember what she had just said. Then it came back. "<i>Je suis content pour toi.</i> I'm happy for you. He's tormented you long enough."</p><p>She gave him another less tentative smile and leaned her head against his shoulder, her hand sneaking inside of his coat to share some of his warmth. He didn't mind the chill of her fingers. It was an embrace. It was more than he'd ever dared to hope for.</p><p>He slanted the umbrella a bit more to counter the wind and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. They stayed there for a long while, the rain falling around them and turning the world to silver while they held each other close.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Prompt by BrokenBookAddict<br/><a href="">Snowells Kisses prompt</a> 24. <i>An unexpected kiss that shocks the one receiving it. </i></p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Many thanks again to <a href="https://capitanogiorgio.tumblr.com/">capitanogiorgio</a> for all of the help with my sad, Google Translate French ;) and to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/alisha_mendelsohn">alisha_mendelsohn</a> for connecting us!</p><p>We’re almost to the finish line now, the final chapter should be up soon(-ish). ;) Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! ♥♥♥</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"<i>Ma chérie</i>, you are a vision," Sherloque murmured, giving a bow.</p><p>"Thank you," she said, smoothing down her voluminous golden skirt. "I feel a bit like someone's going to accuse me of thinking I'm Belle, though."</p><p>"Ah but you are <i>très belle</i>," he teased gently. "Very beautiful, indeed. But if anyone should, for some reason, decide to insult you, then they will find that I can be quite the Beast."</p><p>He gave a soft, mock growl and she smiled. </p><p>"And where are my manners?" she said, tucking her gloved hand into the crook of his arm as they entered the ballroom. "You look quite handsome yourself."</p><p>It took effort to not stumble over the words. Not because they weren't true but because of <i>how</i> true they were. He wore a tux just as well as every other Harrison Wells she had ever known but his longer hair, currently slicked back, and his stubble set him apart from his doppelgangers. Even more so, it distinguished him from Eobard Thawne.</p><p>Now that she realized how much of Thawne she had seen in him originally, she was even more aware of how much Sherloque despised that. </p><p>They seamlessly merged into the dancers out on the main floor. Their abilities to waltz was what had paired them for this mission and they were supposed to be covertly scouring the crowd for the metahuman with the penchant for blowing up formal dancing events. However, secure in Sherloque's arms, she found it easy to forget the ulterior motive.</p><p>Almost as if the words had flashed through her eyes, he leaned down and murmured into her ear - the one without the comm device tucked invisibly into it, "It's difficult to remember we're here to work, <i>n'est-ce pas</i>? It is for me, at least."</p><p>She gave him a grateful smile. "It is. Perhaps--" She quickly cut off, realizing she was about to ask him out on a date.</p><p>"One moment," he said, vanishing out of her arms and into the crowd, leaving her momentarily spinning on her own. But as quickly as he was gone, he was sliding back into step with her.</p><p>"I would not have believed that there was more than one formal dance lover out there with purple and green hair," he explained softly, "but, <i>oui</i>, apparently there is. That was not our destructive, dancing meta."</p><p>She hadn't seen so much as a hint of the vibrant hair color, which she thought would be simple to detect in this sort of crowd. As she tardily looked around, yes, there was the man with the distinctly colored hair and a black tux who, oddly enough, was <i>not</i> the meta they were looking for.</p><p>"Now," Sherloque said, "as you were saying? 'Perhaps…?'"</p><p>"Oh, it was nothing, really," she demurred, looking down at their feet as if she had suddenly forgotten how to dance. She could feel his gaze on the top of her head and, when she looked up again, a fondly amused smile tugged at his mouth.</p><p>"Well, <i>perhaps</i> later you could recall what you were going to say," he said, "if you would care to join me for another evening of dancing? This time, shall we say, with no metahumans to distract us?"</p><p>Which, of course, was exactly what she had stopped herself from asking. Now she gave him a crooked smile of her own. "Are you absolutely sure you're not psychic?"</p><p>He laughed. "I promise I am not. If I were, I'd put my talents to much more interesting uses."</p><p>***</p><p>"One glass of champagne should not compromise our mission, now should it?" he asked as he guided her through the crowd to a table on the fringe of the dance floor. </p><p>"We need to blend in, after all," she added in mock-seriousness.</p><p>"<i>Exactement</i>," he said, holding out her chair. "I shall be right back."</p><p>She sat, trying to casually scan the crowd under the guise of people-watching. Surely she'd be able to spot <i>another</i> man with purple and green hair, wouldn't she?</p><p>But her gaze inevitably went back to the man across the room at the elegant bar. A frown creased her forehead: a woman with dark, upswept hair in a beautiful, deep red gown was standing far closer to him than was proper for a stranger. She put her hand on Sherloque's arm, halting him as he turned with their glasses of champagne.</p><p>The woman kissed him. From this angle, it could've been on the cheek or on the mouth but either way, he pulled back as if shocked.</p><p><i>Surprised that she kissed him or just surprised that she kissed him in public?</i> Caitlin immediately wondered, heat blooming up her neck to suffuse her cheeks. <i>What if all this time he's been only being kind to me and I keep thinking it's…more? And he'll know. Just like Dr. W-- Like Thawne. He'll know.</i></p><p>There was a moment when she wanted nothing more than to run. To sweep up her golden skirt and get out before she had to face him, her embarrassment clear and him reading her like the words were scribbled across her skin in permanent marker.</p><p>But she <i>did</i> have a mission to accomplish and she'd been doing a terrible enough job of it all night already. She focused her gaze determinedly on the crowd at the other end of the room, away from whatever was happening with Sherloque and the woman.</p><p>Her comm crackled to life with Cisco's voice in her ear. "Caitlin? We got him. It turns out that he decided to try something new and hit that retro disco club that just opened. Barry got there before he started throwing bombs on the dance floor. Though I hear he was throwing some pretty lousy John Travolta moves before that. Anyway, you're in the clear."</p><p>"Ah. Okay, thanks," she mumbled down at her lap and the comm disconnected.</p><p><i>So, I guess this solves the problem,</i> she thought but found it difficult to be glad. She'd been looking forward to tonight ever since they'd come up with the plan. </p><p>A champagne flute was placed before her on the table and she jumped, startled.</p><p>"<i>Désolé</i>, so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," Sherloque said, taking the seat next to her.</p><p>She couldn't help but glance around, not spotting the woman anywhere. Had she gone to some predetermined place to wait for him? The notion that he was biding his time with her until he was free to meet the one he <i>actually</i> wanted to be with was… painful.</p><p>"She was a client," he said, taking a sip from his glass.</p><p>"Who?" she asked and then chastised herself for the unconvincing attempt to play it cool.</p><p>"The woman in red. I assisted her with a case. She thought… it was more than that. She thought it quite insistently, as a matter of fact."</p><p>She stalled for time, picking up her champagne and taking a slow sip when she really just wanted to toss the entire thing back. But she finally had to respond. "Oh." Mentally chastising herself for that lackluster reply, she struggled to find something that wouldn't make her feel more foolish than she already did. "That must've been… Um."</p><p>His eyes assessed her steadily over the rim of the glass before he placed it on the table. As much as she tried not to, all she could think of was the way Dr. Wells had looked at her at Jitters while she did her unconvincing best to distract him. <i>It's a wonder he didn't just kill me,</i> she thought. <i>He used his speed to leave, so why didn't he snap my neck on the way out? No one would've even realized he'd done it.</i></p><p>"Hm," he said softly. "<i>J'admets</i>, I admit, I have not missed that look. But there will always be times when I remind you of him, won't there?"</p><p>He extended a hand across the tabletop, palm upwards, a clear invitation.</p><p>For a moment, she forgot she was holding her glass and fumbled, trying to figure out what to do with it. This time, she went ahead and threw the champagne back like a shot before setting the empty flute down. Her gloved fingers crept tentatively to his.</p><p>"Would you dance with me?" he asked.</p><p>She nodded and he gently squeezed her hand, then led her out onto the dance floor once again.</p><p>"I would imagine," he murmured into her ear as they slowly spun, "that you received the same message I did from Cisco, that our destructive, dancing metahuman friend has been apprehended?"</p><p>She blushed slightly. "I… intended to mention that earlier," she said in a wan confession.</p><p>"As did I. It must have slipped my mind."</p><p>She gave him a crooked smile. "Somehow, I doubt that. I don't think much escapes that mind of yours."</p><p>"Oh, you would be surprised," he said, bringing her gloved hand to his mouth and pressing a kiss to the back of it. "I have already forgotten every other woman with whom I have ever danced."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Prompt by BrokenBookAddict<br/><a href="#section0003">Snowells Kisses prompt</a> 39. <i>A kiss followed by more that trail down the jaw and neck.</i></p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks so much to <a href="https://capitanogiorgio.tumblr.com/">capitanogiorgio</a> for all of the help with my sad, Google Translate French ;) and to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/alisha_mendelsohn">alisha_mendelsohn</a> for connecting us!</p>
<p>We’ve finally arrived at our destination. Many thanks to those who've been waiting patiently for the final chapters for all this time as well as to those who maybe just found this fic and have read it all in one binge-read. ;) I'm super thankful to all who've read and I hope that you've enjoyed! ♥♥♥</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Caitlin still did her best meditative thinking with her boxing gloves on, methodically working the punching bag.</p>
<p>Tonight, however, she had trouble finding the easy flow, catching herself stealing glances at the doorway, hoping he would be there like he had before.</p>
<p>Not Harrison Wells. Not Eobard Thawne. Sherloque.</p>
<p>A wild punch set the bag off-kilter and she stopped, catching hold of it between both gloves.</p>
<p>No one was in the doorway.</p>
<p><i>You know Cisco would call if there's any news,</i> she thought rationally but while her head understood that, her heart was more difficult to convince.</p>
<p>More than three weeks had passed since a meta had accosted them on the street and Sherloque had vanished in a burst of light. There had been endless hours following every lead, seeking every scientific answer. Even trying a few that could be classified more as <i>magic</i> than science. </p>
<p>Nothing. He had vanished from every Earth they could search, from every future or past that Barry could travel into. The meta either didn't know how her power worked or she just wouldn't say where she had sent him. Eventually, it was discovered that the woman who had been his client, who had kissed him the night he and Caitlin had been undercover, had hired the meta to make him "disappear." Joe West had taken her into custody but none of that had brought Sherloque back.</p>
<p>She squared up once more, tried to quiet her mind, and let the rhythm move through her like a dance.</p>
<p><i>Dance…</i> If she would have only suggested a different night to have their first proper, actual date. She had started to think he'd forgotten his suggestion of another night of dancing, this time without being on a metahuman stake-out. </p>
<p>But then a few weeks later, he'd told her he had arranged an entire evening: dinner, dancing, the works, if it would please her? It had started to rain when he had come to pick her up and that was the first time she'd ever seen him flummoxed by having failed to anticipate a variable. He'd offered to change nights but she'd said she wasn't afraid of a little rain.</p>
<p>In hindsight, she knew that it reminded her of the afternoon where they'd sat together in the park under his umbrella. It seemed harmless, even a little magical, the way the streets shimmered and the air smelled crisp.</p>
<p>And then before they had even walked three steps towards the car, the meta had attacked.</p>
<p>These weeks without him had made it unmistakable how much she'd come to rely on him, had come to expect him at her side. It had taken her a ridiculously long time to realize he truly was indicating interest in her that was more than simple camaraderie, more than friendship, more than someone who was a fellow worker at an interesting and unusual job.</p>
<p>Before, she'd always had a bad habit of leading with her heart and that had taken her down one of two roads: losing someone she had loved or loving someone who had deceived her. Different destinations that resulted in a similar, devastating pain.</p>
<p>And so she'd shied away from Sherloque, even when she might look at him from across the room and could imagine smothering him in kisses, trailing them down his jaw and his neck, mapping every curve and angle of his face with her mouth, kissing him over and over and over again until they were both breathless. Her heart yearned for that but fear held her back. She couldn't make that leap of faith.</p>
<p>She pushed away from the punching bag and climbed into the half-sized boxing ring, squaring off against an imaginary opponent.</p>
<p>An imaginary opponent who sometimes looked at her with the sharp, pitiless intellect of Eobard Thawne, who sometimes smiled at her with the false Jay Garrick's face and Hunter Zolomon's dead eyes.</p>
<p><i>Cait,</i> she could almost hear Ronnie whisper. <i>Why are you doing this to yourself?</i></p>
<p><i>Caitlin, why did you let this happen to me?</i> echoed Zolomon as the Time Wraiths ate him down to the bone.</p>
<p><i>You're a mess, Dr. Snow,</i> Thawne mockingly tsked in the same tone in which he'd told her to trust that he had made her life better.</p>
<p>Her gloves jabbed out in fast, precise motions and the deeper she lost herself in the movement, the fainter the voices became.</p>
<p>"Hm, I'm not sure who has earned your wrath but I hope it is not <i>moi.</i>"</p>
<p>For a moment, the voice blended in with the meditation, then she gasped, turning towards the silhouette in the doorway. "Sherloque? Is it really you?"</p>
<p>He stepped forward into the sphere of illumination cast by the light over the ring. "If it is not, then I am severely overdressed," he said, indicating the suit and tie he still wore from their interrupted night out.</p>
<p>"What happened? Are you all right?" She started undoing her gloves as she spoke, finally ripping them off inelegantly and letting them drop to the mat.</p>
<p>He spread his hands slightly. "The last thing I recall was being blinded by the meta's light and then suddenly you were gone. I checked your home and, when you weren't there, I thought perhaps you would be here. I would've called but, <i>hélas </i>, alas, my phone didn't seem to survive the meta's tender, loving care. From my observations, this is clearly not the same day."</p>
<p>"Twenty-five days," she said and her voice caught. "You've been gone for <i>twenty-five days</i> and we looked everywhere and I was so afraid that you… that I--"</p>
<p>"Oh, sweetheart," he said as her voice failed her. He strode to the ring and climbed through the ropes in a smooth motion. "I would not have worried you for all of this world, nor any other."</p>
<p>"There's so much I wish that I would've told you," she said, looking down at her hands as if courage was something she could physically hold onto. "So much I regret leaving unsaid."</p>
<p>"Then tell me now," he suggested very gently and that got her to glance up at him. </p>
<p>She took a breath, gathering herself as if standing on the precipice of a massive cliff. "Don't make fun of my accent, okay?" she asked, then, before cowardice could back her down yet again, she leapt. "<i>Je t'aime.</i>"</p>
<p>He went still. For a moment, she thought perhaps her pronunciation had been so poor that he was trying to puzzle out her meaning. But then he moved his arms a little bit, just enough, to make it an invitation. She stepped into them, tracing his stubbly jawline with her fingertips. </p>
<p>She kissed him. It didn't feel like leaping from a cliff after all. It felt like flying, like coming home, like a safe harbor in a storm and a warm, welcoming smile after being awash in a sea of cold strangers' faces.</p>
<p>When they finally parted, he stroked back her hair, the look in his eyes softer than any she had ever seen before. "That was so much nicer than the last time we were in this ring and you punched me."</p>
<p>She spluttered a laugh, not expecting that. "To be fair, you <i>did</i> tell me to."</p>
<p>"True," he agreed, a smile curling the corner of his mouth. He moved to the ropes and stepped through, then held them open for her. As she exited the ring, he caught her, setting her gently to her feet. "And <i>chérie</i>?" he murmured. "I love you, too."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Now with an epilogue over in <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29877195/chapters/75684116">Chapter 41</a> of the final fic in this prompt set, titled (naturally ;) ) "Epilogue." ♥♥♥</p></blockquote></div></div>
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